Want a weather map that can do it all? One that can display almost any kind of weather information that you want, but only when you want to see it? Wunderground’s WunderMap puts you in complete control of your weather information, letting you see what you want, when you want, where you want. It can even give you travel directions and let you know what weather to watch out for on your trip!

How to use the WunderMap

Go to www.wunderground.com in your web browser. Click on the Maps and Radar menu across the top of the screen, and then click on WunderMap.

There are a lot of things that the WunderMap can do, so here’s a quick rundown of its main functions. The legend below the screenshot will spell all of it out for you.

1. Back to Wunderground – Click the three white bars here to bring back the main menu options for Wunderground, or click the Wunderground logo to go back to the website’s main page.

2. Location Search – Click in this box and type in a city, region, or country that you’d like the WunderMap to display, and then press the “Enter” key on your keyboard. You can also click on an option that Wunderground will supply in a drop-down menu that appears, either of a place you’ve looked at recently or one whose name is close to what you’re entering.

3. Map Controls – Click the arrow buttons here to move the map display in a particular direction. You can also click the “+” and “-” buttons to zoom in or out, allowing you to see a specific area in greater detail or to see trends in a general area more effectively. Finally, you can click Local, Region, or Continent to automatically zoom to that area.

4. Layers – Click this tab to see what kinds of information you can see on the WunderMap, and whether or not they are currently displayed. Click the check box beside an option to display it or hide it. You can also click the gear icon beside an active option to view additional items for that option.

5. Trips – This allows you to use the WunderMap to plan a trip. See the “How to plan a trip with WunderMap” section below for more information.

6. Legends – This shows you what the different information on the WunderMap means, sorted by category. You can also click the check box beside “Show Legend Value at Mouse” to have the WunderMap show you more information about information that appears on the map when you move your mouse over it. For example, if you have the “Radar” layer active, moving your mouse over a colored patch will show you what type of precipitation is in the area (rain, snow, freezing rain, etc.) and how much of it there is.

7. Time Controls – This toolbar allows you to view how certain weather patterns, like the precipitation radar and satellite cloud cover, change over time. The functions, from left to right, are:
– Play: Click this to start the map animation for the duration of time that you have chosen, at the speed you have chosen. Click it again to stop it.
– Forward/Back: Click these buttons to move forward or backward a specific amount of time in the animation.
– Animation Speed: Click this drop-down menu to choose how fast the animation plays.
– Animation Duration: Click this drop-down menu to select a common time frame (e.g. last hour, last 4 hours, last 8 hours, etc.) for which you would like to see the map animation on how certain weather patterns have changed.
– Current: If you have selected a custom animation time frame, you can click this button to go back to seeing time frames for the current day.
– Calendar: Click this button to bring up a window where you can use a series of drop- down menus to select a custom time frame for the changing weather animation. You can pick the time (to the hour), month, day, and year for both the beginning and end.

8. General Settings – Click here for options on things like whether to display temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit, what style of map to display (terrain map vs. road map vs. satellite imagery, etc.), or whether to show things like traffic conditions or territorial boundaries.

9. Info – Click here for further help on how to use the WunderMap, let Wunderground know what you think about the WunderMap, instructions on how to use the Time Controls toolbar, and how far into the past or future the WunderMap can show you weather changes.

How to plan a trip with WunderMap

With the WunderMap open (repeat step 1 in the above section if it isn’t), click on the Trips tab.

You’ll use the window below to set up your trip information. Click in the box marked “A” and type in where you’re leaving from. Then, click in the box marked “Departure Date” and select the date when you’ll be leaving, and the drop-down menu beside it to select the time you’ll be leaving. Then click in the box marked “B” and type in where you’re going. Click Add Another Destination and repeat the process if you’re going to more than one place.You can also click the drop-down menu marked “Travel By” and select your method of travel. When you’re done, click Get Directions & Weather.

You’ll now see a new view of the WunderMap that will show you a route from your start point to your end point, and what the weather will be like along the way. In this example, our departure point is Boston, Massachusetts and our destination point is New York City, New York.Click Clear Results to erase this trip and plan a new one, or click one of the buttons below this to select a different route, if there is one available.

The information below these two items will give you the directions you need to follow to get from your departure point to your destination point, how long it will approximately take, and any potentially hazardous weather you may have to deal with along the way.

Want to get a look at the weather in your area without a whole bunch of confusing information and clutter? Wunderground’s “Full Screen Weather” feature lets you look at a map of weather in your area — or any other area you choose — that only displays a few different types of information at a time, based on where you are and where you click. It’s a weather map that cuts all the muss and fuss to give you better control over how you get the weather information that you need.

How to use Wunderground’s Full Screen Weather

Go to www.wunderground.com in your web browser. Scroll to the bottom of the website, and under the heading “Our Products”, click Full Screen Weather.

On the next screen, you can select a location in order to see weather in that area. Click in the text box highlighted in the screenshot below and type in a location to look for, and then click Search.Additionally, you can click We Think You Are Here to have Wunderground use your Internet connection address to determine your general location, and then show you a forecast from the place closest to you that it has information on.Finally, you can click on one of the locations in blue font under “Recently Viewed Locations” to instantly pull up weather information from that place.

Once you’ve picked a place to view weather for, you’ll see a screen like this. The legend below the screenshot will give you some quick info on what each section does.​

1. Current Location – This is the current location for which you’re seeing weather information. If you wish to quickly switch to a new location, click in the box containing the name of the location, type in a location name to look for, and then click Search.

2. Current Location’s Conditions – This shows you the current weather information for the location you have chosen, including temperature (and also what the temperature feels like with the wind chill), wind direction and speed, humidity, visibility, and air pressure.

3. Current Location Source – This shows you the specific weather station that is giving you the information for the current area, as well as when it last updated that information. You can click on the drop-down menu here to select a new weather station to view information from.

4. Current Location Forecast – This shows you what the weather in your current area will probably be like for the next few days. The red numbers are the predicted maximum temperatures, while the blue numbers are the predicted minimum temperatures.

5. Weather Station – When the “Weather Stations” view is enabled, you can see the locations of different weather stations, represented by the current temperature being read there. Click on one to get more detailed information, like what’s shown here.

6. Settings – Some things that you can change here include:

– Whether metric (e.g. Celsius) or imperial (e.g. Farenheit) units are displayed
– How weather stations are represented (temperature, dew point, precipitation, etc.)
– If the radar shows information on storms currently being tracked
​- If the satellite view shows you only clouds visible during the day or those at night, too

7. Link To – Click here to get the web page address for this view of the map, in case you want to share it with someone. You can share it using Facebook or Twitter, too.

8. More – Click here for options on seeing people’s webcam videos or pictures on the map, areas where there have been severe weather alerts, or even tracking of severe weather patterns such as tornadoes. Click the check boxes to show or hide the appropriate item.

9. Weather Station Mode – Click here to switch to weather station mode, which will show you the locations of Wunderground’s weather stations and the current temperature at them (or however else you have chosen to have them represented).

10. Radar Mode – Click here to switch to radar mode, which will show you the type and relative intensity of any precipitation (i.e. rain or snow) in an area. Click the play button () beside the legend that appears to see how the area’s precipitation is predicted to change over a period of time.

11. Satellite Mode – Click here to switch to satellite mode, which will show you the cloud cover in an area. Click the play button () beside the legend that appears to see how the area’s cloud cover is predicted to change over a period of time.

12. Map View – Click this drop-down menu to switch between a traditional map view and a satellite imagery view, as well as choose whether you want to focus on terrain or on roads and other man-made objects.

13. Map Position – Click one of the four arrows here to move the map view in that direction.

14. Map Zoom – Click the “+” button here to magnify the map, letting you focus on a specific area in more detail. Click the “-” button here to de-magnify the map, letting you see more general weather trends in an area better.

Now that we’ve explained a bit about how Wunderground does all of the neat stuff that it does, the question in the forefront of your mind is probably “okay, but how do I use it to get the weather for my area?” Glad you asked! It’s actually quite easy, if Wunderground doesn’t do it for you itself! Just type in your city, a nearby airport, or your postal/ZIP code, and Wunderground will give you everything you need to know about the current weather in your area, plus a 10-day forecast!

How to get weather data for an area on Wunderground

Wunderground will usually be able to use your Internet connection address to automatically find the general area you’re in and give you weather data for that area. However, let’s assume that you want to look for weather data for another area, perhaps somewhere you might be going on vacation soon.In that case, click in the box labelled “Where is Your Weather?” and type in the name of the city, state/province, country, or a nearby airport, or a postal/ZIP code.As you type, Wunderground may give you suggestions based on cities, states/provinces, countries, or airports that it knows. You can click the name of one of these suggestions to select it, if it’s what you’re looking for. Otherwise, finish typing in what you’re looking for, and then click Search.

Wunderground will now show you weather information for the area you’ve selected. Let’s start with the window at the top of the screen, which shows you current weather conditions on the left. Click Change Station to get readings for a different location.
On the right side of the screen, you can click the three tabs on the map to get different meteorological views of your current area. Radar shows you the type and amount of precipitation, Satellite shows you temperature and clouds, and Webcams shows you live shots of current conditions. You can also click the “+” and “–” buttons to zoom in or out on the map, or the play button to see conditions over time. The buttons in the top-right corner give you even more map views; we’ll cover the WunderMap in another tutorial.

Now, let’s scroll down and look at the information a little further down, which is a forecast of what the weather is going to be like for the next 10 days. The easiest way to view it is in Descriptive mode, so click that tab to bring up a screen like the one below.Here, you’ll see the weather for the next few days described the way a weather anchor might tell it to you on the news. Click on More Days at the bottom to see weather information for days further into the week.You can also click the Graph tab to bring up a by-the-day or by-the-hour visual representation of upcoming weather, or click the Table tab to bring up a by-the-hour matrix of information about the weather on an upcoming day of the week.

Other Things to Do on Wunderground

The menus across the top of the screen will take you to other areas of Wunderground. Click one, and then click an option in the drop-down menu that appears to go there.

Here’s a general idea of what you’ll find in each of these places:

Maps and Radar — See and track rain or snow in your area, check conditions for flying or boating, check air quality and ultraviolet indexes, and more.

Severe Weather –See and track extreme events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, and hurricanes in your area. See forecasts for inclement weather, know where things like earthquakes and wildfires are happening and how to avoid them, and learn how to prepare yourself in case you get caught in Mother Nature’s fury.

News and Blogs — Read commentary on current weather phenomena from Weather Underground founder Dr. Jeff Masters and other meteorological experts, weather-related news stories from all over the world, or easy-to-understand illustrations of how weather works.

Photos and Video — Check out beautiful and wondrous photographs of weather and nature from Wunderground’s users, or look at their webcams to see what the weather’s like where they are right now. You can also watch videos and animations on weather in action, how weather works, or what the latest trends in weather mean.

Activities — This is the place to go if you’re looking for weather information to take into consideration when you’re planning various outdoor activities, like skiing/snowboarding, sailing/boating, swimming, or flying in an airplane.

More — Take a look back at what the weather in your area was like over a certain period of time, read the latest scientific evidence and analysis for climate change, learn what a personal weather station is and how to buy/install/register it, or just get a general list of everywhere you can go on the website.